The Lone Ranger | Pastor Chris Kouba | United City Church

The Lord in order to start service. I want to read Psalm 100 over you this morning It says make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth serve the Lord with gladness Come into his presence with singing know that the Lord your God. He is good It is he who made us and we are his sheep the sheep of his pastor It says enter into his gates with Thanksgiving enter into his courts with praise give thanks to him and bless him For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations Which means it doesn't matter if you're coming in with some problems It doesn't mean if you're coming in with some praise God is worthy of our worship this morning And so before we start service ten o'clock and you just put your hands together for five seconds and thank Jesus For who he's been to you and how good he's been to you because the scriptures say that he shall be praised Let's have church this morning. Amen. Amen Here we go Come on ten o'clock put your hands together We sing lift up the banner or lift up his name Jesus the Savior is here in this place. Yes, he is For all of eternity praise will resound I don't have to wait. No, I'll sing it right now Come on, here's the chorus. He shall be praised. He shall be praised He shall be praised He shall be praised Yes, he will He shall be praised. Oh, come on put your hands together. He's worthy of your worship. Yes, he is No trouble the trial will silence my song Amen, here's why My strength is in Jesus the rock I stand. Has he been faithful to anybody else in this room? Through mountains and valleys my joy will remain Yes, it will cause I've got a hopeless empty degree Yes, he did He shall be praised. He shall be praised And earth the same

He shall be praised He shall be praised Exalted for endless days The Lion of Judah We sing forever Forever and ever he reigns He shall be praised Praised He shall be praised The scriptures say that let everything that has breath praise the Lord with everything that you have and so can we have some fun this morning and sing Everybody clap your hands Everybody move your feet Isn't he worthy? Worthy of everything Give it all don't hold back Praise him with all you have Isn't he worthy? Worthy of everything Everybody clap your hands Everybody move your feet Isn't he worthy? Worthy of everything Give it all don't hold back Praise him with all you have Isn't he worthy? Worthy of everything Everybody clap your hands Everybody move your feet Worthy

We come to bless the Lord Praise him with all you have Isn't he worthy? Worthy of everything He shall be praised He shall be praised In heaven and earth and sand He shall be praised He shall be praised Exalted for endless days The Lion of Judah The Lamb that was slain Forever and ever he reigns The Lion of Judah The Lamb that was slain Forever and ever he reigns The Lion of Judah Judah Forever and ever he reigns We sing He shall be praised Yes he will Praised Now put your hands together this morning, 10 o'clock, and lift up a shout of praise for your God, because He is worthy of everything, amen, amen, and amen. Amen, amen. Go ahead and grab a seat. Well, good morning, church. How are we feeling this morning? It is a great, great day to lift up the name of Jesus together.

My name is Jason Mick. I want to welcome you to United City today, and perhaps I'm not the first to greet you and welcome you. I hope and pray that that was the case as you walked in today, but we're so thrilled to have you, especially if this is your first time to United City. We want to send a warm welcome to you. United City family, can we just welcome our first-time guests here today? We're so thrilled. We know that walking into new spaces might seem a little overwhelming, and you don't know what next step to take. Well, you're in good hands at United City. We believe in taking a next step, and we want to encourage you to take yours even today. After the service, would you do us the honor of meeting us in the lobby? We have a first-time guest table that we would love to be able to meet you, greet you, welcome you, and even put a gift in your hands, and we certainly want to know how we can pray alongside you and perhaps your family. So first-time guests, we're honored. We'd love to be able to meet you. Come visit us after the service at our first-time guest table in the lobby. Church family, in one week, it is our annual Serve Conference, y'all, and I just want to, first of all, say thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of you who serve week in and week out and make a big difference, not just here at United City, but through United City. We do believe everyone has a next step. Perhaps if you need to jump in and start serving, this is a great place. I would encourage you, scan the QR code and search, hey, Lord, what do I need to do? How can I help make a difference here at United City? And if you already are a Serve Team member and you're not registered, let's get that done, all right? Get that done. We're expecting over 500 Serve Team members at the Serve Team Conference, and we want

to make sure that all of you are there and a part of it, all right? Can we just also just say thank you, Church family, to all of our Serve Team who serve joyfully, sacrificially every single week. It's awesome. I'm going to go ahead and ask our ushers and Serve Team to come forward for our time of offering. You know, school has already started back in New Caney ISD. It starts in Humble ISD, and it was amazing to see even some of our youth staff out blessing schools this past week, and I know they're going to be doing it again, kids team as well. But it is awesome that we have an opportunity to go be a blessing in the community so that we have an opportunity to point people to Jesus, to tell people about Jesus, who He is and what He's done, and to continue to see more people come to faith in Jesus and take their next steps. And Church family, your faithfulness, your giving, and your generosity allows us the opportunity to live out this mission of proclaiming the goodness of God. So thank you. Thank you for how you give. Thank you for how you support the work and the mission of God in and through United City Church. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for this morning, our time that we get to gather as the church, called out, set apart. Lord, God, would you continue to use this church for your glory. And God, may we be found faithful, and we just simply give back, Lord, a portion. God, use these tithes, use these offerings for the furthering of your kingdom, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name. Oh, master, savior, Jesus, like a fragrance after the rain, oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim, kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about, there's just something about, there's something about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,

♪ About that name ♪ ♪ There's something about that name ♪ ♪ There's just something about His name ♪ ♪ So I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ Cause I know there is peace within Your presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus, yes I do ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ That's right. ♪ Till every dark addiction starts to break ♪ ♪ Declaring there is hope and there is freedom ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ Come on, we declare this morning. ♪ Your name is power, Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life, yes it is ♪ ♪ So break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over fear and all anxiety ♪ ♪ Till every soul is captured by depression ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus, yes I do ♪ ♪ Captured by depression, I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is power, Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life, yes it is ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ Your name is power, Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life, yes it is ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪

Church family, would you take a seat for me really quick? We wanna do something very special at this time of year. This is a time, as Jason already mentioned, New Caney ISD has already started back. Many of the other school districts are about to start back this week with officially students coming in. And we wanna speak Jesus over our schools. We wanna speak Jesus over our classrooms. We wanna speak Jesus over our hallways. We wanna speak Jesus over our churches. We wanna speak Jesus over our neighborhoods. We wanna speak Jesus over our schools. I wanna ask if you are a student, if you are gonna be in high school, college, middle school, elementary school, if you are a teacher, an administrator, or a coach, in any of those settings, would you just stand up and remain standing all around the room? Do me a favor. Just continue to remain standing. Praise God for all of you. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna pray a prayer of blessing and a prayer of commissioning on each and every one of you. And so what I wanna ask you to do, if you're sitting around somebody that is standing, would you just ask them their name

and would you just pray out loud for them here in just a moment? Here's the thing. God can hear all of our prayers at the same time. So I just want you, again, just to pray over the people that are around you. If you're not near somebody, maybe you can get up and physically move over to them. And then in just a moment, Wes Solomon, who is the principal of Kingwood Park High School, is gonna come up here and voice a prayer. Wes is one of the many that he represents that are all here today who are in the middle of the trenches. And we wanna ask that God would use him and all of you to be able to see great things take place in the halls of your school as we speak the name of Jesus. So right now, what I wanna ask you to do is just with a hand extended, go up to the people that are around you, close to you, ask their name, and would you just voice a prayer of blessing, protection, and praise over each one of them as they head into the school this year. Lord, thank you, thank you for the people that are standing up, thank you for the people that have chosen this profession. God, we thank you for a church and a community that supports the educators and the students. Lord, first and foremost, we pray for protection, safety and protection for our people, for our buildings, for our hallways and our classrooms.

God, let these students come to school every day feeling safe and wanted. Secondly, God, we just pray for purpose. Remind us of our purpose, that we are the hands and feet of Christ and education in the school building and the classroom is our mission field. Pray that every student feels accepted and every student feels loved by their teachers, their educators, from everybody that's involved. Lastly, Father, we just pray for presence. The work is hard, the days are long. Walk with us, give us energy, give us passion and give us the opportunity that when students look at us, they see the light, they see joy and they see something different. Go with us, walk with us, remind us of our purpose and keep us safe. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, church. Would you stand and let's declare Jesus over every part of our life. In Jesus' holy name, Jesus. Shout Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the dark. He's gold for every enemy. Jesus for my family. I speak the holy name, Jesus. Your name. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. You have been the bread. ♪ Never left and I won't forget your faithfulness ♪ We sing out. ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy glory ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, your worthy Savior ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ Your name, your name. There's just something about your name. ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy glory ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪

♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, your worthy Lord ♪ Yes, you are. Yes, you are, Lord. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. ♪ Jesus, your name is like the morning light ♪ ♪ The one that darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, your name can save, your name can heal ♪ ♪ Your name can make the storm be still ♪ ♪ You never fail, you never will, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, the bread of life broken for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy ones ♪ ♪ We bless today and soon to come, Jesus ♪ ♪ And Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name, oh, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name that gets all the glory, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name that gets all the glory, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory, yeah, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory, lord, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Sing, Jesus, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gets all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, sing out, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name, that gets all the glory, one more time church, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, that gets all the glory, yeah ♪

♪ So I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more I'll throw you more, I'll throw you more ...those of us that are maybe traveling and being able to connect with us as a church. Some of you grew up with him. And then some of you only know the name. The Lone Ranger A fiery horse with a speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty HIO Silver The Lone Ranger Here we go. Lone Ranger started in 1933. It was on the radio at first, then it became a TV show, then it ultimately went into comics and then movies.

It was like a 30-year stretch where like this was the guy in America, right? This was what everybody looked at. This is what everybody thought about. Black mask, white hat, horse named Silver, rides in, fixes what is broken and is gone before anybody has the opportunity to even say thank you. What's interesting is that you may be like me and you had no idea who the Lone Ranger was before you saw these clips, right? I had no clue, but I certainly knew the name Lone Ranger. In fact, that name has been said many, many times. And what we think of whenever we say somebody is a Lone Ranger, that means they don't need anybody else. That means they can do anything that they want by themselves without having any help. But did you know that's not what his name actually means? In fact, the story of the Lone Ranger is this. He actually rode out with a patrol of Texas Rangers and they rode into an ambush and every other person except for the Lone Ranger was killed. He was shot and left what they thought was going to be bleeding to death there in the dirt. So what we think of as the Lone Ranger, meaning the one who doesn't need anybody else, actually means, the Lone Ranger means the only one that was left. Of course, we know that ultimately somebody did come and find him and began to nurse his wounds and began to stay with him until he was able to stand up. We know that person to be Tonto. Tonto is his sidekick. And what's interesting is that the Lone Ranger, from the moment that he became the Lone Ranger, never ever again did anything alone. He was always with somebody. He was always with Tonto. Let me ask you the question today. Are you a Lone Ranger? I'm not asking about the original definition that you may think that it means because many of you may proudly say, like I probably would certainly say, yeah, I'm a Lone Ranger. I can take care of myself. Like I can do what I need to do. I can do the things that are necessary. And so therefore, I'm not asking you whether you're a Lone Ranger in the sense that you're independent.

I'm asking you, are you a Lone Ranger, meaning this, are you the only one left? Let me give you a scenario that may help you decide that. I want you to picture yourself. With the phone ringing, or maybe getting a conversation in a parking lot, that phone rings and the feedback you get back is that they found something on the scan, you better get here right away. Maybe the phone rings and you get word that your child is in the hospital, an emergency, something happened, school. Maybe you have a conversation over a coffee, and at the end of that coffee, the person that you love, giving your heart to in every way, tells you they don't feel the same, and they want to break up. It's those moments in life when the floor drops out, and you just feel helpless. Here's my question, who do you call in that moment? For some of you, you have a name that immediately pops to mind, I want you to just hang on to that, we're going to do something with it later. For some of you, though, you may think through the list, it's not like you don't know people, you know a lot of people, but none well enough to make that call. None to reach out to when the floor drops out. Maybe some of you had somebody, and then now you don't have that same person, and you know exactly when that conversation and when that situation shifted. We're in a sermon series that we started last week called The King's Table. We're looking at the relational life of King David. We're trying to envision this idea that he has a table, and with the table means he has certain people that he's allowed to have influence in his life, to have guidance in his life, to speak into him. And we're going to look and see who some of those people were. Last week, we looked at David and Samuel, Samuel saw what God saw in David and called it out. You need people that believe in you. This week, we're going to look at David and a man named Jonathan.

We're going to look at three different chapters of Scripture, 1 Samuel chapter 18, 1 Samuel chapter 20, 1 Samuel chapter 23, one of the most beautiful pictures in all of the Bible of what it looks to have somebody on the other end of that phone call. I want you to take your journals out and open them up with me to page seven, and I want you to write down the main takeaway that we're going to take away from this message today, which is this. Leaders need someone, excuse me, leaders need a friend who will fight for them. Leaders need a friend who will fight for them. Write that down. The whole premise of this series is that every one of you is a leader. You're a leader maybe in your business. You're a leader in your company. You're a leader on your team. Maybe you're a leader at school. Maybe you're a leader in your home. Maybe you're a leader in your small group. At a minimum, all of you are leaders of yourselves. And last week, I told you that the primary thesis of this entire series is this, healthy leaders do not lead alone. So the question is not who's going to be at your table, the question is who are you choosing to let be at that table? And what I want to talk to you about today is how you can choose someone like a man named Jonathan who shows us an amazing picture of what true friendship looks like. For some of you, this is going to confirm and allow you to give thanks to somebody who already is this in your life. For some of you, this is going to tell you what you need to pray for. And for some of you, this is going to be a way for you to begin to identify, how could I be this type of person for somebody else? First Samuel chapter 18, let me give you the context of what's taking place. The previous chapter is maybe the most famous chapter in all the Bible.

Even people who don't know the Bible know about First Samuel chapter 17, it's David and Goliath, OK? It's the famous story where basically you have this, this, this Goliath, this large figure who's taunting the nation of Israel and threatening them and telling them that, that they aren't going to be able to defeat him. And what you have is all these trained warriors in the Israelite army who are too scared to go off and face Goliath. What you find is David, the main character that we're talking about, who is not a, not a king at this point yet. He'd been anointed and told he was one day going to be king, but he wasn't there yet. He wasn't a soldier. He wasn't somebody who was militarily trained. He just finds himself coming up on the situation being like, well, I'll take this guy on. There's no reason that he should be defying the army of the living God. And so therefore he steps up and we find him at the end of the chapter with Goliath's head in his hand, victorious. It's a powerful scene. At this scene, you also have King Saul, who is the actual king of the nation, and you also have his son, a man named Jonathan. Jonathan was next in line to take over if his dad died. And this is what we see in 1 Samuel chapter 18. Would you stand in the honor of the reading of God's word with me? 1 Samuel chapter 18. Now I'm gonna read verses one through four. It says, as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David

because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt. You may be seated. If we all need friends who fight for us, what does that actually look like? Not friends who are just nice, not friends who are a good hang, like those who are gonna be genuinely in your corner. I wanna give you four things from the life of Jonathan that I wanna point out to you. Number one is this, write this down. A friend who fights for you, trades his future for yours. A friend who fights for you, trades his future for yours. I wanna be honest with you. Verse four verses of chapter 18 are a little weird, all right? You're like, what's really going on here? This just kind of feels a little bit odd. And many folks have having to use this, but for trying to let the Bible promote particular agendas, they've even used this as proof to show you that it's actually right there in the text. I would tell you that's not at all the accurate reading of what's taking place here. You need to know culturally what is happening. What you see is that Jonathan is somebody who has this robes and all of this gear, this spear, these outer garments that represent royalty.

It's like an announcement to everybody else. When King Saul dies, I'm next. I'm gonna be up. I'm the king who has the throne waiting for me. And what it says here is that he lays aside all of those things and he gives them to this shepherd. It's like him declaring that I am putting down my rights and I'm giving them now to David. You ever seen whenever they retire a jersey? You know, somebody that's just given so much to the organization, the hometown team. They're the one that's just beloved and revered. Maybe they've won championships with the team or maybe they've just had all these records with the team. And so in light of that, what you see is that they will actually retire that person's jersey. They'll make them come back after retirement and they'll have like a ceremony where they'll literally lift, in basketball terms, they will lift the jersey into the rafters is what they would say. I want you to see what's taking place here is the reverse of that. It's you see Jonathan actively wearing the jersey and he takes it off and he gives it to the kid. He says, hey, I've got all the rights. I've got all the privileges. I've got all the inheritance that is coming my way, but I see God has something in you. God's doing something in your life

and I'm gonna take that off and I'm gonna give these things over to you. He's not giving up possession. He's giving up position. He's handing over the one thing that he cannot give back. Nobody asked him to. Saul didn't ask him to. God didn't ask him. He just sees something in this man and he's like, you know, I'm gonna give these things to you. Verse three tells us why. It says that he made a covenant with David because he loved him. The word love is not a feeling word there. It's actually a loyalty word in the Hebrew. It's when a man says when he's binding himself to somebody and there is no way out. What you're gonna see is for the next part of the text and all the way through chapter 23, Jonathan takes risk after risk after risk and many times to his personal detriment, but he does that, why? Because he's got a covenant love to David. He makes a commitment to David. He's essentially saying, I don't know what challenges I'm gonna face, but I'm gonna face them with you. And in light of that, he trades his guaranteed future and he gives it over to this shepherd boy that he sees God's hand is with.

I want you to hold on to that picture of a man laying aside a robe that he had every right to wear. We're gonna come back to it before we leave today. But what I want you to know is this, leaders need someone who will fight for them. Need a friend who will fight for them and what we see here is that Jonathan does that by trading his future for David's. Now, let's be honest. It's kind of easy to do all of that and say, man, I'm with you. When he just got Elias' head in his hands, he just defeated him, it's a good day, things are going really well. I want you to know, it goes real bad after this. So let's see what kind of commitment level he's got when things get a little more difficult. Second thing I want you to see, write this down, a friend who fights for you, number two, goes looking for an answer he doesn't want. Goes looking for an answer he doesn't want. Turn with me over to 1 Samuel chapter 20. Between chapters 18 and 20, like everything falls apart. King Saul hears them singing, these women, they're singing these songs, and the song is this, Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his tens of thousands. Saul's not a fan of that. He begins to see David as a threat. So what does he do to deal with this threat? His first thought is, well I'm gonna send him out into war and maybe he just conveniently dies on the battlefield.

Here's the problem, every time he sent David out into battle, David came back more victorious. He won every time. And so now the idea of David and the popularity of David is growing. He killed Goliath, he keeps winning all of these battles, and so we see at one point literally Saul takes his spear and throws it at David, trying to kill him. That's the context. Pick it up with me in 1 Samael chapter 20 beginning in verse 1. It says, then David fled from Naoth and Ramah, and he came, and who did he go to, before Jonathan. What have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? And he said to him, far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing, either great or small, without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so. But David vowed again, saying, your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes. And he thinks, do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. Then Jonathan said to David, whatever you say, I will do for you. Let me give you some context, what we just read. Verse 2 shows us that Jonathan didn't initially believe David. Here's David coming along saying, man, your dad's trying to kill me. What's the deal? And Jonathan responds, he's like, I promise you he's not. He would never do that. Everything that he would do, he would tell me first. And in fact, we know he's not just saying that because he believes the best in his dad.

And chapter 19, we actually see that his dad Saul made a promise to Jonathan and said, I will not kill David. So here he is saying, I promise you he's not going to do this. But here's what it says at the end of verse 4. Whatever you say, I will do for you. Here's what he agreed to. He agrees to sit at his father's table, to study his dad like he's a suspect, and go looking for an answer that would make his father a murderer and everything that he believed about his family to become a lie. Nobody wants that answer. You ever had a situation to where you kind of have a hunch that maybe a friend is doing some things that they shouldn't be doing? Or maybe you've got an idea, you just heard some rumblings, some rumors in the background about maybe a family member that you kind of hear may be caught up in some stuff that they shouldn't be? Maybe you find out that you just kind of have this like kind of gut feeling that like, man, stuff's just not adding up and you've got a choice in that moment. Do you go and find the truth? And here's the thing, whenever you realize what the truth is, you can't unknow the truth. You know what's easier? I don't know if I want to know that. I don't actually know if I want those details. Because if I just bury my head in the sand, then I don't have to face the reality of the situation. Here's Jonathan doing the same thing, but tenfold. Because for Jonathan, there's great consequences. Literally here, if he goes and finds out the truth, then it's going to mean that he's going to realize that his dad is a liar and his whole family is a farce. What is he going to do with that? Folks, please hear me.

True friends are willing to find the truth, even when it's tough. Even when it's hard. There's plenty of people that will tell you what you want to hear. There's plenty of people that will tell you what you think, that you think is going to be right, even if it's not necessarily true. Plenty of folks will do that. True friends are willing to go find the truth out, even if that truth is really, really hard. Almost nobody will go and get the truth for you, and getting it is going to actually cost them their own family. But you know what? Leaders need a friend who will fight for them. Who don't just puff you up and tell you you're great, but who actually go and do the hard things, even when it's hard for them to hear, and especially when it's hard for them to deliver that news to somebody else. This is what takes place in 1 Samuel chapter 20, in the next scene, and this is where we get our third description of a friend who fights for you. Number three, write this down. A friend who fights for you steps in front of the spear. A friend who fights for you steps in front of the spear. It's what's called the New Moon Festival. They had a lot of festivals back in those days. And this New Moon Festival, people would gather together and they'd have these elaborate meals. to celebrate. And it was expected, because David was close to the king and David was close to Jonathan, that he would participate and be a part of the New Moon Festival with David, excuse me, with Jonathan and Saul. So the very first day of the New Moon Festival, they all gather there to have this big elaborate meal and David is not there because he had gone to Jonathan and said, hey, I think your dad's trying to kill me, I don't want to be anywhere near him.

Tell him that I'm actually going to do some stuff for my family, I'm going to check on them and let's just see what his reaction is. And so they had this agreed upon plan, first day he's not there, Saul doesn't say anything about it. Second day they come back, again they have the New Moon Festival, all of them are gathered around at the meal, David is again, his chair is empty and he's not there, and so this time Saul says, hey, where's your buddy? Where's David? Saul begins to, or excuse me, Jonathan begins to tell him what his elaborate plan was, like he's going with his family and he's asked to leave and I said that that was fine. And then here is the response in verse 31, which takes place where Saul begins to say these words to his son Jonathan, look at what it says, whole chapter's built on it. For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established, therefore send and bring him to me for he shall surely die. He blows a gasket, is what we see. He gets so angry that he calls his own son, a name I'm not going to repeat in church, and then he says to him, you go and find David and I'm telling you, it's either you as the next king or it's him, but you guys cannot be together. This is not how it's going to be. He essentially draws a line in the sand and here's what Jonathan says back in verse 32. And Jonathan answered Saul, his father, why should he be put to death? What has he done? Do you remember the language? It's the same language from verse 1 when David said it himself. Here's Jonathan taking David's question into a room that David wasn't able to go into safely. And he asked him, what is it that he said? Why are you doing this? Why are you acting this way? What is it that is necessary for you to go and kill him? And so now David is now on the run, having to run for his life all because Saul wants

to take him out and now Jonathan knows what he cannot un-know. He's now coming at his own son because we see just another verse later that he throws a spear at Jonathan. And look at what it says in verse 34. Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger, that's an understatement, somebody throws a spear at you, you're going to be a little bit upset, all right, and ate no food the second day of the month. Why was he upset? Because he had a spear thrown at him? No, for he was grieved for David because his father had disgraced him. Here he is in a moment when he's the one taking shots, but he's upset because his dad's mad at David. You ever been in a meeting, I've been in these before, where you're kind of sitting there with a group, and all of a sudden the boss, the person in charge, whoever it may be, starts kind of chewing on somebody in the office, starts getting on to them, and you know, like that's not right. They don't know the full perspective, that's not how it went down, and you just kind of have to sit there and you're just watching it go down. And then what happens, you, at the end of the meeting, go home, and then you kind of go back to that person the next day, and you're like, man, that was tough, I didn't agree with anything that he said. And if you're the one that got chewed on, here's what you're thinking, well why didn't you say anything? Why'd you just sit there? Folks, it's so much easier to be the guy who tells you after the fact what he thinks. It's something totally different to have somebody who's so in your corner that they'll tell you the hard truth to your face. Folks, what we do not need as leaders is more people to tell us yes. We do not need more people who will tell us what we want to hear. We do not need more people who will tell us how great we are.

What we need is people that will be honest to speak the hard truths to our face. Who will confront us when we need to be confronted. Who will warn us when we need to be warned. Who will be honest enough not just to think, yeah, I don't think that's great. And then all of a sudden you look up and their entire marriage and their entire family is ruined and you're like, man, you know, I thought I had some red flags going back before. Say the red flags! Be willing to speak up and to speak out. It is better for us to be over the line, being a little too cautious, than for us putting our heads in the sand and allowing sin to happen right in front of us. our faces. What David is surrounding himself with is people that will be honest with him. People that will speak truth to him. People that will come alongside and step in front of a spear, in this case literally stepped in front of a spear. Jonathan gets up from the table and he goes out to the field, he's got to tell David the news. He's got a separate set up going where basically Jonathan was going to take a servant out with him. David was going to be hiding out by a particular rock and he was going to shoot some arrows. And if he shot the arrows and they were short of where David was, then that meant it was safe for you to come back. If he shot the arrows past where David was, that was going to indicate to David that it was not safe to come back. And so sure enough he gets there, he shoots all the arrows past where David was, has his servant go and get him and go home, and then he walks up and you see the end of the chapter, chapter 20, this embrace between David and Jonathan. And it says that David wept uncontrollably, couldn't even stand. I believe, yes, it was probably because of the fact that he knew this meant that basically he was going to be living on the run and having to constantly run for his life.

I think he also knew that his friend wasn't going to be able to do it with him. It almost reads like the end of chapter 20 is the goodbye between Jonathan and David. What I want you to see takes place is a beautiful picture that happens in the field later on after this, which is where we get our fourth point that I want you to write down today, which is this. A friend who fights for you comes back when you're empty. A friend who fights for you comes back when you're empty. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 23, the middle of the chapter. What you see between chapter 20 and chapter 23 is that David's just literally on the run. He's running for his life, he's running to stay alive. He doesn't really have a lot of support system around him, he's got a few guys that are kind of near him but they're just kind of there. He doesn't have any army, he doesn't have a throne, he doesn't have a home, he's got nothing to give anybody, he's got nothing anybody else would even want from him so he's got nothing to offer. He is totally depleted, he is totally empty. And look at what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 23 verse 16. It reads, and Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh and strengthened his hand in God. Jonathan went and found him. Nobody made him, there was nothing in it for him. David could not do one thing in return. And Jonathan walked into the wilderness to find a man who had nothing. And catch the best part, end of verse 16, read it again. He strengthened his hand in God. Think about how easy it would have been to do it differently. Hey David, your boy's here. We got this. Let's go. Let's put a plan together and let's go take these guys down.

That might have helped for a few hours but guess what? His situation wouldn't have changed. He doesn't come flexing that his appearance changes everything. What he does is he takes David's hand and he puts David's hand not in his, but he puts David's hand in God's. Verse 17 says, and he said to him, do not fear for the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel. I shall be next to you. Saul, my father, also knows this. This isn't a pep talk. This is instead Jonathan telling David what God had already said. God promised you a throne. God is going to keep you. The promise is still standing even though you're in the dirt where you cannot see it. This is God's doing. The throne is yours. I've shared many times before from this stage, if you've been here in United City, about ten years ago I was involved in a pretty serious burn accident. What I haven't shared as much about is what happened after that, in my recovery of that accident, that, that medical situation. I went into a state of pretty bad depression. It was not something I'd ever experienced before, it was something that was very disorienting, it was something that was very difficult. Because on the one hand, I knew what I was supposed to do. Like I knew what coaching and what, what, what instruction I would give to somebody else. It just didn't feel like it worked for me. Like I knew all the verses. I could preach on the verses in that time, but they just didn't feel real.

I had a buddy of mine who called me one day, the guy was not a pastor, he wasn't a staff member or anything like that, he was just a guy in the church that had become a really good friend. He said, hey man, can I take you to coffee? He knew that I was in the middle of it. We got there to coffee, and he just, honestly didn't say a whole lot, he just listened while I just kind of walked him through what I was thinking, some of the really weird thoughts that were coming into my mind, and just some of the things I was wrestling through that made no sense, but I couldn't stop thinking, and he just listened. And at the end of it, he said, man, can I pray for you? I was like, yeah. So we just prayed. Nothing magical happened at the end of the prayer. Man, it just felt really good. Then he said, man, I've got a couple of scriptures that have been really key for me, can I quote these verses to you? And he began to quote scriptures that I had memorized, but they just sounded different that day. He said, Chris, I don't really know how this is going to go, I just know this to be true, God is really good, God is in total control, and you can trust Him. I remember not snapping out of it, and all of a sudden I was just normal, and everything was just right, none of those things. But it did feel like in that moment, I hit the bottom, and I started to go back the other direction. Here's the gift that he gave me. He didn't show up and be like, bro, you got this, you're good, we'll get through this together, man, I promise you, we'll get it. All of that stuff would have sounded really good, and I would have dismissed it, no, and that's not true. He didn't grab my hand and put it in His.

He grabbed my hand, and He put it in God's. You need Jonathan in your life. Not who's going to tell you you're great, not who's going to tell you it's all going to be good, not who's going to tell you it's all going to be easy, you just keep fighting, all those things sound good. What you need is somebody who will take that spear for you. What you need is somebody who will find the truth, even when it may hurt them. What you need is somebody who will walk with you and take your hand in the darkest moment, when the floor falls out, when you're at that phone call, and you're not sure what to do, and doesn't tell you it's all going to be okay, they will tell you, man, it's going to be hard, but God is good. God is in control, and you can trust. Do you have a Jonathan in your life? Some of you immediately know who I'm talking about, here's what I want to ask you to do. Call them this week, don't just assume they know. Jonathan's don't do stuff because they want to be thanked, that doesn't mean they don't need to be thanked. What I want to ask you to do, if you've got somebody in your life, that person who's been there, that person who's consistent, that person who grabs you and takes you to the Lord, would you thank them this week? Literally call them and say, hey, thank you for being this for me. My pastor told me to do this, here's what I want to — I just want to thank you, here's why. Others of you may not have that person. I want to ask you to pray for them, pray that God would give it to you. You can't choose it, you can't make it up, you can't force it. Psalm — 1 Samuel chapter 18 verse 1 says that the, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. That's a supernatural thing. What you can do as a leader, you can pray, God, would you give me a Jonathan?

Someone who will do what we just talked about, who will fight for me? Some of you, as you've listened to me speak today, what you know is you — what's come to mind is people that you know that are in the middle of something right now. They're in the middle of the wilderness, feeling like nobody's going to be helping. They're finding themselves at a place in the dirt where they've got nothing to offer anybody else, but man, they need help. Some of you need to be a Jonathan to somebody else this week. You need to go fight for them. You need to go find the truth out and speak that truth to them. You need to grab their hand and lead it towards God. And go back to that robe. I mentioned to you Jonathan, 1 Samuel 18, he laid aside all of the things that he had the inheritance of. He rightly was his, and he willingly gave it over to this shepherd. Folks, what I want you to know is this, there's another one who laid aside a robe. He had every right to wear. He came down out of a throne room, he went into the wilderness after people who had nothing to give him. He took the spear along the way. And three days. Later, he got up out of a grave. He defeated sin and death, he paid the penalty for your sins, and he's now come to offer you forgiveness today. And if that wasn't good enough, he not only offers you forgiveness, he also offers for you to be his friend. You can do that today by giving your life to Jesus, by receiving his mercy, by receiving his grace, by moving your trust from yourself,

instead of moving it into him. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me all across this room? Online, would you do the same? This is the most important time of our service. It's not a time to duck out early. This is a time to lock in and focus. It's time for us to do business with the Lord. We're all about public next steps here at United City. And some of you need to do just that. Because Jesus came into the wilderness to rescue you. There was a spear that was meant for you, but Jesus stepped in, he took that spear. He died on a cross, paid a sacrificial death on a cross for you and for me. He rose from the dead three days later, defeating the power of sin and the power of death. And he allowed all of his righteousness, all of his goodness, all of his perfection. And he laid it aside. So that he could give it to you. So that you could put on the royal garments. So that you could be a child of the King. So that you could have the guarantee of inheritance. Have you ever received that gift of a relationship with Jesus? You ever come to the end of yourself and put your trust and faith in him? I wanna invite you to do that right where you are. Just pray these simple words right where you're sitting,

in your heart. Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I am lost. I'm in need of a rescue. But I believe you sent your son Jesus to do just that, to rescue me. I believe he died on a cross. I believe he rose from the dead. I right now, I receive his gift of eternal life. I put on his robe. I claim his victory as my own. It's in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen. Would you look up here? Here's what's about to happen in just a moment. We're all gonna stand up. Our worship team's gonna be up here and we're gonna sing. And if you're here today, you need to make a decision public. Because you just gave your life to Jesus. Just now, what I'm gonna ask you to do is to step out from where you are and to come forward. We're gonna have folks at the bottom of the steps. If you're in the risers, we're gonna have folks at the front of the church. Just come and say you gave your life to Jesus. We wanna celebrate with you. We wanna pray with you. We wanna get some information from you. Others, if you need to come and join United City Church,

God's just leading you like this is it, this is home. This is where I need to believe and belong with others. Would you come and lead the way today? Maybe others, if you need to be baptized, you're baptizing two at our 1130 service. We're baptizing two more at our Espanol service at one o'clock. If you need to talk to someone about your next step of baptism, would you come forward? Maybe others, if you need prayer today. Maybe you need prayer because there's somebody you need to be a Jonathan to. Maybe you need prayer because there's somebody in your life that you need to reach out to about being a Jonathan to you. Maybe you feel like you don't have anybody. Would you don't walk this alone. Let us come and pray with you. Maybe you have a need of some other kind. Would you come, let us pray for you. Please no one be leaving, scooting out early unless you're coming forward to make a public response. Father, we come before you and we thank you so much for this time we have left. Lord, would you lead people to respond in faith and boldness and courage to you. It's in the powerful name of Jesus that I pray, amen. Would you stand and as you do, our team is up front at the bottom of the steps. You come as God is leading you, come on.

♪ Your name is here, your name is love ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire, break every stronghold ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows, burn like a fire ♪ Come on, who's gonna be the first? You come as God is leading you. ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is honor, your name is love ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire, your name is power, your name is love ♪ Your name is healing, Your name is life. Break every storm. It's God for you, man. Shed light through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Let's pray together. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you. We thank you, Father, for the gift of the Jonathans in our lives. Those who are willing to speak the truth when it's costly. Those, Lord, who are willing to find out what that is. Lord, for those who are willing to come alongside and to help us when we need it, to put our hands not in theirs, but put our hands in yours. Lord, you're good. You're trustworthy. And in light of that, Lord, may we live in everything that we do, a life that exudes that back, that we live and trust in you. Lord, I pray you'd help us to be a Jonathan to somebody this week, somebody that needs help, somebody that needs us to be the encouragement to them, Lord, that you have been to us. We've asked and prayed these things in the powerful name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Would you guys take a seat? We've got a couple of quick, exciting announcements for you to hear. Excellent. Thank you, Pastor Chris. Well, Church, I've got some exciting news I get to share with you today. On my right, your left, this is Ms. Chrissy Bryant and her husband, Scotty. Would you welcome them to the stage? And to my left, your right, this is Mr. Lane Stewart and his bride of all, but a month and a half now, Isabella. Would you all welcome them to the stage? Church family, I'm thrilled to be able to share with you today that this past week, both Chrissy and Lane are now full-time staff members with us here at United City Church. Chrissy has been on staff with us before and over the past handful of months. She's been part-time in our preschool ministry, and she has now fully said yes and is now full-time as our preschool minister. We're so thrilled, so grateful for her hand, her service, her work. Feel free to clap. It's okay. She's amazing, full of wisdom, the preschool team, the serve team over there. If you've got a little one, you need to see Ms. Chrissy. They'll give you a tour. They'll show you the family viewing room. So if you've got little ones in here, just know there's a better place for them. And this right here is the leader of that amazing ministry, so please, and if you need to plan a Disney trip, she's your girl, okay? All things Disney is right here, but so thankful for you, Chrissy. And then Lane is no stranger to our church.

He grew up in this church, and over the past year, he put his yes on the table and walked through our residency. A residency is designed to develop and then to perhaps deploy, whether into full-time ministry here at United City or elsewhere. But it's so fitting that we selfishly get to keep you on team, and Lane is now going to be our associate of missions and evangelism, right up his alley. So he's going to be working alongside David Humphrey and John Sheppard in our groups ministry, and as our groups ministry is growing, our goal is to be able to equip, empower, and mobilize you, church family, to go do local missions, stateside, abroad, across the world. And Lane is going to be a massive part of helping put together short-term mission trips and also equipping you, not just with words, but emboldening you and then launching you to go live on mission and share the good news of Jesus. Lane is gifted. God has put his hand on him, and listen, lean in, learn from him, and he is going to help launch us into a new day here at United City Church. So we're so thrilled. We're going to pray over them in just a moment. There's one last thing I want to share with you. Men, on the screen, you're going to see some information about a Bible study that's beginning on Thursday mornings here next month. And so I want to invite you to scan the QR code, get that information, join us once a month on those Thursday mornings, 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. The first one will be free breakfast and coffee, so you don't want to miss it. But, men, this is an opportunity to lean in, partner up, gird up. United City men, we're cut from a different cloth, and so we want to invite you to this Bible study. Be a part of it.

Bring some men along the journey with you. It's going to be awesome. We'll be caffeinated in the Word, so it will be strong and good. Would you stand and let's extend a hand of prayer over Chrissy and Lane. Father, thank you, Lord, this morning for your grace and the reminder, Lord, how you love us. God, thank you for our new team members. Thank you, Lord, for the work you're doing through your church. Father, we've been the church in here. May we go be the church out there and point people to you. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Church family, we love you. Have a great week. Man, what an amazing time that we had today. Hey, if you know someone that needs to hear this message, we'd love for you to share that on socials. We'd love for you to actually go and check out our socials so you can stay up to date on everything happening in the life of United City. city and if you need to take the next step we'd love to help you do that as well. Love you guys so much and we'll see you next week.